Holistic Leadership Model

Barack Obama
Introduction to leadership
Leadership is a set of characteristics and competences that include traits which are
distinguishing qualities of an individual, ability and capacity to lead, skills to
accomplish tasks effectively, behavior of the leader including tasks as well as
processes

to

accomplish

those

tasks

and

the

relationship

which

is

the

communication and interaction between the leaders and the followers. Leadership
is not a rigid or static process; in fact, its an influence process which is based on
the interactive between the leaders and the followers. Leadership concept had
evolved and passed through many eras where the leadership philosophy changed
from the traits theory to nowadays transformational leadership.
Today leadership is no longer a concept that includes one man or what was used to
call the great man and became a process of building new leaders or leaders of
leaders. As the followers became more involved in shaping the current leadership
concept, it became a process where inspiration and motivation are two major
principles. Leadership is mainly about supporting and transforming people towards
brilliance and success through knowledge sharing, capacity building, mentoring
and skill-management.

Barack Obama as Leadership Model

Barack Obama is the 44 th president of the United States of America. He was born
on August 4th, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a mother from Kansas, Stanley Ann
Dunham, and a father from Kenya, Barack Obama Sr. He worked his way through
schoolOccidental College in Los Angeles, Columbia University in New York, and

later, Harvard Law Schoolwith the help of scholarship money and student loans.
In 1985, Barack Obama moved to Chicago, where he got his start in community
organizing on the citys South Side, working to help rebuild communities
devastated by the closure of local steel plants.1

Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996 and elected to the
U.S. Senate in 2004, he reached across the aisle to pass the farthest-reaching
lobbying reform in a generation, lock up the worlds most dangerous weapons, and
bring transparency to government by tracking federal spending online. Barack
Obama was sworn in as president on January 20th, 2009, in the middle of the worst
economic crisis since the Great Depression. He acted immediately to get the U.S.
economy back on track. Since then, the private sector has added back more than
10 million jobs during the longest, uninterrupted period of job growth in the U.S.
nations history.2
In his first term, Obama cut taxes for every American worker. He passed
historic Wall Street reform to make sure taxpayers never again have to bail out big
banks. He passed the landmark Affordable Care Act, helping to put quality and
affordable health care within reach for millions of Americans. He ended the war in
Iraq and is working to responsibly end the war in Afghanistan. Hes the first sitting
president to stand up for marriage equality, and is fighting for equal pay and
a womans right to make her own health decisions. Hes made a college education
more affordable for millions of students and their families. And he believes its time
for a comprehensive solution to fix our broken immigration system.3

1 https://www.barackobama.com/president-obama/
2 https://www.barackobama.com/president-obama/
3 https://www.barackobama.com/president-obama/

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Ethical practices and visionary powers

When Obama arrive to the U.S. presidency, he had a new approach for politics.
Hes well known as a visionary man with a great sense to shape the future of U.S.A.
He had a clear strategy which was based on real planning to move the U.S.
towards more development through his plan and investment in the green energy
and towards opening and strengthening relationships with the rest of the countries
in the world. Obama is still providing clear views on the economic crisis that hit the
U.S. mainly, the war in Iraq where some American soldiers are still serving, the
health care reform and climate change as he announced and mentioned many
times in UN meetings. Hes known as the hope man for how much he believes
that theres always hope for all the problems to be solved. This helped him to
gather around the majority of the U.S. citizens and made him the president of the
United States with ethical goals that are shaped around humanity and improving
the lives of the U.S. citizens particularly for his internal/local policies and
international ones.

Adopted Theories and Traits

Obama had shown repeatedly 8 leadership traits that almost everyone agrees on
when asked about. Integrity, self-confidence, intelligence, sensitivity to others,
respect, fairness, citizenship and caring are the main 8 leadership traits that make
Obama the leader he is. Those traits can be drawn-out when watching hes media
conferences and announcements, when analyzing hes internal and international
policies and decisions, when watching him as a regular citizen and not only a
president, when you read about hes achievements and dedication for the
responsibility hes handling. This can can be found in his respect and care for his
followers and sensitivity to others. He much shows how calm he is under pressure

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especially when it comes to relationships with other countries. His plans and
decision showed how much hes an intelligent, self-confident and a leader who
seeks change. Obama would fall under Theory Y for his emotional intelligence and
quoting from one of his interviews when he says, I dont get too high when things
are going well, and I dont get too low when things are going too low.4

Philosophies and values

As a leadership model, Obama has his own values that he believe in and put into
action in everything he does whenever and wherever. Empathy is one of the values
that we find in Obama when he speaks about seeing things through other peoples
eyes. Taking risks is a value that Obama had mentioned many times and one of his
core beliefs, he had mentioned many times in his speeches challenging the self.
One value that Obama stresses on is preserving though adversity especially when
he speaks to the U.S. nation or in front of world leaders during or after a crisis
where he state the importance of preserving and moving on by learning from the
failure. Adopting a Yes, I can mindset is one of well-known philosophies the he
believes in. Moreover talking about his philosophy, Obama believes in the next
generation. He believes that when leaders build the next generation, they pay
attention to building the skills necessary not just for the short term but for the
longer future. Obama is laying the groundwork for next-generation skills, pushing
ahead on climate change, health care, infrastructure development and in a host of
other areas.5

4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM_cGpYrRqE
5 http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/epeoplesview.net/2011/07/president-obamas-fiveleadership.html

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Styles and approaches

Barack Obama fall in the transformational-charismatic leadership style with a
cross-cultural-global leadership. Analyzing his style, we can find that hes a
pragmatic leader more than an ideological one. Hes task oriented more than
relationship-oriented with high need for achievement, moderate need for affiliation
and low need for power. Obama tends to be in the democratic zone much more
than the autocratic one with a great speaking skill that inspires people.

Motivational and Inspirational Approaches

Obama is one of the rare presidents who have a great motivational and
inspirational skills. He is a great motivational speaker and knows how to have fun
despite of all the responsibilities hes handling. He cares about the people and not
afraid to shed a tear publicly. To motivate, he willingly serves in what is considered
as servant roles such as cook. To set a right example for his nation, he
demonstrates how to be a great family man, loving his wife and kids.

Team Leadership and leading leaders

Obama manages directly two teams, the senior Whitehouse Leadership team
(Chief of staff, senior advisors) and the Cabinet team (secretaries of education,
defense.). Obama doesnt take decisions for the sake of his presidency rather he
prefers to consult his teams accordingly. As hes a great listener as described by
his cabinet in many occasions, the cabinet members are known also for their great
sense of leadership which they owe its development and shift into new approaches
that are more aligned with Obamas leadership style.

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Change, and Conflict Management

At the home page for Obamas Website, you can find the cover photo including
hes most popular quote stating, Change will not come if we wait for some other
person or some other time. We are the ones weve been waiting for. We are the
change that we seek.

This philosophy that he believes in is based on believe in

changing rather than resisting it. He believes that everyone can change to the
better and the change starts by everyone from the inside. This mentality had
inspired many and many people not only in the U.S. but also around the world.
Despite continuous and several attempts to hinder his initiatives and slander his
name, Obama responds wisely and with patience putting in front the big picture
and focus on. When a conflict rises and gets intense, hes prayerful and accepts
responsibility for his decisions and their outcomes. He remains calm through
difficulties and allow others to receive credit, when due.
For relational conflicts Obama acts and is as the following:
Issues of Esteem
Issues of Control
Issues of Affiliation
Doesnt get too high Hes democratic more Hes on a moderate level
when things are going than autocratic

when

well, and doesnt get too

affiliation

low

when

things

are

going too low.

Recommended changes

6 https://www.barackobama.com/president-obama/

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it

comes

to

Obama can do better in relationship-oriented leadership and establish a balance

with the task-oriented leadership style.

Conclusion
Obama is considered as one of the top influential leaders in the modern history
and he has his own leadership style that fits and in alignment perfectly with the
modern leadership theories especially when talking about the transformational
leadership and the transformational-charismatic leadership. His style is a great
example with his story and achievements not only on the U.S. level but on the
international level. No Doubts that he has flaws but who doesnt? The more we
move towards such leadership style as Obamas, the more we move towards
success and excellence.

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